³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

In 2022, there was a milestone moment when Bart the capybara arrived. He was the first of his species to be under the care of the keepers, and as it's the world’s largest rodent, there was much excitement. Things have been turned up a notch now because a female has arrived, and that means one thing – the possibility of a giant rodent romance. Aella has arrived from a collection in Scotland, but this species originates from South America, where they live in large highly sociable groups. All points to these two getting along, but there is no guarantee.

In their first outing, there doesn’t appear to be much of a spark. The keepers, concerned that they may be playing it cool and might be in need of some privacy, decide to rig cameras to see what they are like away from prying eyes. The next day, the keepers come in to review the footage, and they are amazed to discover this love story has certainly escalated. In fact, so much so that it’s enough to cause the keepers to blush!

On the other side of the park, Kate heads to Koala Creek, but she is not there to meet those famous marsupials. She has come to be introduced to a bettong and a long-nosed potoroo, two species that have been badly affected by the Australian wildfires but now play a vital role in the recovery of those forests.

Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin switches to his macro lens to try and work out which spiders are boys, and which are girls, in a vital breeding programme, but he must be careful as the Desertas wolf spider is not only one of the rarest but is also venomous.

Zoologist Megan McCubbin is an expert on native wildlife, and she and the keepers are desperate to know if any bats roost in and around the centuries-old house that sits at the heart of the park. With special low-light cameras rigged and an incredible bat detector that allows their high-frequency calls to be audible to us, they settle in for the evening. Amazingly, the bats begin to emerge, but how many different species can they detect?